Posted on 07/20/2003 2:30:55 PM PDT by GeneD
Did Rupert Murdoch's Chinese-born wife kill a much-hyped Charlie Chan movie retrospective on the Aussie-American's Fox Movie Channel?
The summer festival, dubbed "Charlie Chan's Mystery Tour," would have highlighted the '30s and '40s murder mysteries featuring the Honolulu detective, whom some find offensive.
Some avowedly "inside" sources say Wendi Deng, Murdoch's third wife (who just bore the 72-year-old mogul a second daughter), was behind the decision this month to cut the festival. But a rep for Fox Movie Channel denied her involvement, saying the cancellation came after protests by community groups, which said "that they believed Charlie Chan perpetuated a negative racial stereotype."
But old-movie buffs - including film critic Leonard Maltin, who pleads for a cancellation of the cancellation on his Web site - beg to differ. According to Variety, the network received more than 3,000 E-mails and 500 letters protesting the decision in the week following its announcement.
On Friday, the frame blurbing the festival on the Fox Movie Channel Web site was taken down and replaced by a pop-up window inviting people to discuss "the progress made in our modern, multicultural society."
Whatever, Wendi.
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